That night, she hovered in Spiral’s basement behind an industrial-size water heater, the same place she’d waited for the past two nights. Overhead, she heard the staff closing up for the night—or early morning, since it was a little after three. She yawned. She’d broken up a tussle in the ladies’ room; tailed Dell, the useless bouncer; and made sure some very drunk women found a cab. But in five hours, she had to be at the Peninsula to take one of the older princesses to her plastic surgeon’s office, and she wanted to go to bed.

The sound of footsteps cut through her grogginess. She peered around the water heater and saw a figure wearing stiletto boots and carrying a backpack coming down the stairs. The same backpack Taylor brought to work each evening. Taylor glanced around, then crossed the basement toward the liquor storage room.

The lock had been changed, and there were now only two keys—one for Coop and one for Tony, the club manager, a decent guy who’d already earned Piper’s trust. It was his key that, at Piper’s request, had spent the past two nights conveniently lying out on his desk.

The lock rattled. Piper raised her camera, quickly adjusted the settings, and clicked away.

***

Two nights later, Taylor was gone. She and her boyfriend Keith, Spiral’s ex-bartender, had been operating a small but profitable black market business selling Spiral’s top-shelf brands. Piper had only been working for Cooper Graham for six days, and she’d already earned her salary.

Around eleven o’clock, Deidre Joss entered the club with Noah. Coop must have been looking for her because he appeared right away and led her up to VIP. But Noah Parks had spotted Piper, and he didn’t follow.

While Deidre had traded in her black office attire for an amazing beaded black sheath, Noah still wore his conservative businessman’s suit and a necktie. “I’m surprised to see you here,” he said, taking in Piper’s new mulberry dress.

“Coop hired me to do some social media for him.”

Noah regarded her stonily. “I’m sure you’ve told him by now who you were working for.”

“I promised confidentiality, and that’s what I’ve delivered,” she replied tersely.

“You’re saying you didn’t tell him?”

“That’s exactly what I’m saying. And please remind Deidre of that the next time she needs to hire an investigator.”

He took a sip from his glass and regarded her thoughtfully. “Impressive.”